OPSM

All these words - all these games - and we’re here again. Great multiplayer, disappointing story. Where Ghosts used the oft-derided COD idioms with a knowing smile, Advanced Warfare uses them with Kevin Spacey’s cold, stern gaze. A welcome outsider take on a consistent series, increasing the pace still further in online multiplayer to fantastic effect. However, solo play feels a bit safe in comparison.

The Evil Within builds up such a strong sense of goodwill in the rest of its mammoth runtime that it’s easy to forgive the occasional misstep. It’s lean, with few repeated ideas, and boasts one of the best save rooms you’ll ever experience. Since when did that become a thing to celebrate?

Campaign missions are well choreographed, if a little similar to Far Cry 3’s - burn yet more drug fields! Yet there are so many tasty palate cleansers, I never feel like I’m treading nippy water. Races; assassination missions; random hostage rescues; hunting quests; fortresses to be conquered; convoys to be blown up; propaganda posters to be pulled down - every activity is tied into levelling-up Ghale with new abilities and thus always feels worthwhile.

The lack of licences does make PES look naked against the gleaming swagger of FIFA’s Super Sunday décor, but the quality of the football is high enough to overcome the disadvantage. Because the football here is magic and PES is better than it’s been in ages. It’s time to go crawling back.

An accurate and still enjoyable recreation of current WWE... so long as you stopped watching five months ago and you don’t plan to return for at least another year.

It’s the anti-inFamous: Second Son. Whereas Sucker Punch’s sandbox was for the most part a beautiful, concentrated experience, Watch Dogs relies on unfiltered girth to entertain. ...The fundamentals for a truly special game are in place – but as was the case with Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, it now falls to the sequels to fully realise it.

Even so, The New Order fails to quite rank with the great shooters of the past.Boss fights seriously overstay their welcome, while a criminal lack of ammo throughout makes too many fights a molar-gnashing grind. But while Blazko may lose the odd battle along the way, he most definitely wins this particular war on PS4. The most subversive and suprising new-gen shooter so far, Wolfenstein delivers heart in a gory FPS that should stay with you for years.

and while its presentation is bogged down with messy menus and woeful atmospherics, packing in all 203 eligible teams and simply letting the tournament happen....

...but not a gamebreaker. It won’t bring your addiction back a fresh, but it may well prolong it.

In short, FFX/X-2 HD is everything you could want in a hi-def remake – a beautiful re-imagining of two games that are now a bit more brilliant than they already were. Even the music’s been tweaked – it’s the same classic soundtrack, only slightly richer. Everything you loved about the gems in the series over a decade ago, modernised with fanatical devotion and helpful – rather than horned in – PS Vita touch controls.

Rambo inspires more anger than biting your tongue just after you’ve stubbed your toe.

Persevere and Mercenary Kings redically improves; returning to areas that used to crush you with an unstoppable gun you built piece-by-piece, your regular quartet splitting up through its multi-pathed expanse, then returning to base is pure retro nectar. Just keep this endgame glory in mind when pressing through the chore-like opening.

But, like an incredibly handy mega-jump ability, said drill runs on the power of steam – this means you need water to keep it going. ...While death can mean a slightly tiresome slog back to where you were, you do at least feel fairly punished for screwing up. Every so often, you also come across shortcuts back to the surface, which speed things up appreciably.

Telltale’s undead baby is gradually morphing from an interactive drama into an animated series in which you occasionally have to push a button to keep the engine running.

Every combo is a perfect and unique snowflake, though some are more conducive to high-score chasing, while others are just a mad curiosities.

The quality of your movement and the jumping animations really convey a satisfying weight to the world, and you keep noticing new incidental details – such as your character’s breath in the air in icy stages – hours into your experience. ...Creator Matt Thorson has achieved a ludicrous standard of gameplay in Towerfall Ascension, one that seduces you instantly and jettisons all thoughts of million-poly character models and full-performance capture from your gaming consciousness.

Mechanically, the game often sings, in spite of rare framerate hiccups. With such a convincing set of powers in place, the next inFamous could finally be the truly great hero you deserve. In the meantime, you’ll just have to put up with the merely very good berk in a beanie. Gorgeous, and instantly satisfying to control, inFamous: Second Son shimmers across the screen in a way that simply wasn’t possible on PS3. The core missions lack sparkle, but this sandbox yarn is heroic in full-flow.

It holds your time in the absolute highest contempt, and invites the same attitude back at itself.

Unevenly brilliant and infuriating, CLOS2 combines incredible, tight combat and some spectacular visual treats with ropey stealth and a clunky narrative.

...TxK arrests every second of your attention the way few games ever can.

EDF 2025 is proof it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.

There’s no traditional leveling here; instead you complete quests to yield minor stat boosts. Most curiously, fighting monsters has zero effect on your level

It’s incredible, considering the broader perception of video games, what Naughty Dog has managed to achieve in certain areas here

Somewhat limited by its own mechanics this is still a masterclass in videogame horror. The overuse of its core ‘run away and hide gameplay’ lessens the impact overtime but the visual and aural execution are flawless, making for a terrifying opening few hours, an unpleasantly distressing close and a satisfying exercise in fear throughout.

But then Tomb Raider was always a pretty game and the difference on PS4 – while notable – simply doesn’t justify the asking price if you already own the game on PS3. Perhaps with that in mind, Crystal Dynamics has shoved a bunch of PS4-exclusive control features into the mix that – while well intentioned – feel more like an embarrassed apology than anything particularly substantial.